Jesus Blancornelas, Mexican Journalist

Founded Zeta newspaper in Tijuana

November 25, 2006|By Laurence Iliff The Dallas Morning News

MEXICO CITY — Legendary journalist Jesus Blancornelas, who pioneered hard-hitting coverage of drug cartels and had the bullet holes to prove it, died Thursday in Tijuana at age 70 after a long illness, his Zeta newspaper said in a statement.

The weekly newspaper said on its Internet page that he had been hospitalized since Sunday with a chronic illness. Mexican media identified the illness as stomach cancer.

Mr. Blancornelas' death comes nine years after his SUV was peppered with 50 bullets. He was hit by four of them, and one of his bodyguards was killed, as was a reputed gunman for the Tijuana drug cartel.

Hector Felix Miranda, the co-founder of the newspaper along with Mr. Blancornelas, was slain in 1988, and another top editor at Zeta, Francisco Javier Ortiz Franco, was gunned down in front of his two small children in 2004.

Mr. Blancornelas blamed drug traffickers and the political figures who colluded with them for the killings of his colleagues and the attempt on his life.

Oscar Cantu Murguia, director of the Norte newspaper in Ciudad Juarez, said Mr. Blancornelas was an unstoppable force in pursuing stories exposing the actions of drug cartels and the corruption of government officials. He was also an icon in Mexico's long struggle for greater freedom of the press.

"He was a brave man. He was a genuine man," Cantu said. "He decided that he was going to contribute, and he contributed by showing that a free press could hold public power accountable before public opinion."

Not all of Mr. Blancornelas' colleagues agreed with his almost "obsessive" pursuit of stories about drug traffickers, Cantu said, but all respected the man and his work.

"The death of Jesus Blancornelas is a great loss for the free press in Mexico," said Cantu, who has also received death threats thought to be from drug cartel members in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso.

The current issue of Zeta includes headlines such as "Organized crime pursues businessmen; they flee to San Diego in search of security," and "Executions of local police, for protecting different cartels."

On Wednesday, the journalist advocacy group Reporters Without Borders called Mexico the most dangerous country in the world for journalists after Iraq, in light of three killings in November and seven so far this year.

Mr. Blancornelas, a frequent speaker in journalistic and academic forums, had won several journalism awards, including the Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity, Southern California's top journalism honor.

His weekly column was essential reading for Mexican and foreign colleagues who follow the drug fight, and he was quick to give interviews even while meeting deadlines of his own.

Mr. Blancornelas, who stepped down as director of Zeta earlier this year, is survived by his wife and three sons.